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Heartbeat
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 The professor tells his students that classmate Hector got pinched because he was clumsy. |
 Using a mannequin, the professor demonstrates how to pick a wallet out of a pocket. |
One day, Arlette steals a diamond stick pin from an ambassador (Adolphe Menjou). He catches her at it but, intrigued by her beauty and her light fingers, he also dreams up a little job of thieving for her to do for him, or else he'll call the police. The ambassador suspects his wife of playing around with a handsome diplomat, Pierre des Roches (Jean Pierre Aumont). He dresses Arlette in a suitable gown, and takes her to the Embassy Ball. There she is to steal Pierre's watch so that the ambassador can see if his wife's picture is in it.
While dancing with Pierre, Arlette takes the watch. The picture is there all right, but Arlette, fascinated by Pierre's charm, takes it out before she gives the watch to the ambassador. He is delighted that he has misjudged his wife, and tells Arlette to run along now, he's through with her.
Back at the pickpocket academy, Arlette tells the professor that she tried to steal a diamond stick pin, but failed. She denies being at the Embassy Ball, but she was seen there by two of the professor's thieving acquaintances. Because she lied to him, the professor kicks Arlette out of the school.
She goes to see Pierre, and eventually tells him all about herself, including that pickpocket school she has been going to. He is considerably disillusioned, but is sorry enough for her to find a solution. He will marry her to his worthless friend, Roland, who will do anything for money. That will give her identification papers, so she will be able to apply for jobs without mentioning the Reform School. This seems like a fine plan, only somehow by the time the wedding is scheduled, neither Pierre nor Arlette really wants her to marry Roland.
Basil Rathbone is, as always, elegantly nasty as Arlette's mentor, and the good old-fashioned happy ending will satisfy the romantic in you.
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Heartbeat Ginger Rogers' millions of admirers may be assured by showmen offering this picture that she is to be seen here at the peak of her proficiency in a role as smartly tailored to her measure as the wardrobe she wears. It is in essence a drawing room comedy, with emotional undertones, and she in its performance the expert and exploitable assistance of Jean Pierre Aumont, extremely able in the romantic role opposite her; Adolphe Menjou, Basil Rathbone, Melville Cooper, Eduardo Ciannelli and a finely balanced supporting cast. It's a splendidly and lavishly staged picture, produced by Robert and Raymond Hakim and directed with masterly effectiveness by Sam Wood, and is a fit match for the strongest competition the exhibitor down the block can muster against it. An adaptation by Morrie Ryskind of an original screenplay by Hans Wilhelm, Max Kolpe and Michel Duran, the script opens and dwells for a delightful spell upon a class in pocketpicking conducted, earnestly but amusingly, by Rathbone. To the place comes Miss Rogers, fresh out of a reform school but innately honest, and on her first mission of mischief, following instruction by Rathbone, she is caught in the act of stealing a scarf-pin and taken in tow by her victim, an ambassador (this is pre-war Paris) who has his own uses for her talent. He introduces her to official society as the niece of a friend and commissions her to steal a watch from a young man he suspects of being overinterested in his wife. She achieves her mission, but falls in love with the young man, who falls in love with her also, and this leads to complications which engage attention steadily thereafter. The picture differs from most current offerings in a number of important respects. For instance, it doesn't try to throw the audience into the aisles in stitches of laughter, nor to put their emotions through a wringer. it doesn't knock itself and the audience out with overstriving, but contents itself with telling an unique and amusing story pleasantly and in good time. It send its beholders away smiling, rather than depressed from long tussling with psychological or moralistic equations, and it leaves no strings untied. The matte of the pocket-picking is dispose of without accentuation when its usefulness to the main story has been served, and its handling is rather too patently for purposes of entertainment to suggest emulation. Previewed at the Pantages theatre, Hollywood, where it was received with evident relish. Reviewer's Rating: Excellent. —William R. Weaver, Motion Picture Herald, April 27, 1946 |
Heartbeat is a remake of the French film Battement de Coeur which was made in 1940 with Danielle Darrieux, and directed by Henri Decoin, her then-husband.
An independent motion picture production, Heartbeat was the first picture in the USA to come from Robert and Raymond Hakim. (They had previously produced some films in France.) In addition to being its star, Ginger Rogers had a business interest in the Hakim production.
With the budget set at $1,000,000, filming started in August 1945. RKO released the picture May 10, 1946.
The June 1946 issue of Modern Screen contains the following trivia tidbits about Heartbeat:
- Heartbeat is Jean Pierre Aumont's first film since his distinguished discharge from the Free French Forces, which he left with two wounds and the Croix de Guerre.
- For the scene in which Basil Rathbone hauls off and slaps Ginger, the actress insisted upon doing her own screaming. Usually, a studio hires a professional "screamer" to emit the howls for $25 a day, but Ginger said she had her own brand of screeching, and she'd do it herself.
- Upholding his reputation as owner of the largest male wardrobe in Hollywood, Adolph Menjou contributed his own watch, worth $7000, as an important prop for the picture. The studio had the ticker insured and paid Menjou $5 daily rental, just to make everything legal.
And from The Film Daily (September 1945) we have this tidbit: "Season's biggest collection of dress extras populate one of the most stunning sets ever built on the RKO lot for Heartbeat. Action represents an elaborate diplomatic ball at the French Embassy in pre-war Paris. A call was authorized for 300 dress extras for five days, and 100 for 12 days."
When Heartbeat was made, Ginger Rogers was thirty-five years old. While thirty-five is certainly not "old," it is too old for a convincing portrayal of a character who is eighteen.
 The pickpockets students practice on mannequins. |
 The professor recognizes the reform school handkerchief. |
Heartbeat is the only film in which Basil worked with director Sam Wood and most of the actors. Basil Rathbone and Melville Cooper appeared together in several films: Tovarich (1937), The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), The Dawn Patrol (1938), The Sun Never Sets (1939), and the television episodes of Schlitz Playhouse called "The General's Boots" and "Volturio Investigates" (both 1954). Basil appeared with Henry Stephenson in Captain Blood (1935) and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939).
Heartbeat received mixed reviews, as you can read on this page and Page Two. Personally, I find the movie charming and unpretentious. It's not Oscar-worthy, but it is entertaining and enjoyable. Unfortunately, the reviews barely mention Basil Rathbone.
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Heartbeat AUDIENCE SLANT: (Family) A light-hearted comedy that will score heavily with everyone. Miss Rogers turns in a fine performance. BOX-OFFICE SLANT: Should do excellent business because of Rogers' name and also the production values inherent in the film. Plot: Running away from reform school, a little Parisian girl chances into a pickpocket school, where she is taught to steal. Her efforts are for one goal: to get enough money to pay for a marriage so that she can be honest and not return to reform school. She meets a young diplomat, and they fall in love. Complications arise when the diplomat tries to marry the girl to a shiftless friend. But all ends well. Comment: A picture that makes no pretense of being great drama, but is a refreshing change in screen fare. Ginger Rogers has a chance to do light comedy and she makes the most of it. A crew of seasoned actors round out the film to a director's delight, with Adolphe Menjou, Melville cooper, Mikhail Rasumny and Eduardo Ciannelli all handling their parts to perfection. Basil Rathbone, as the pickpocket school superintendent, is his usual polished self. Production values by the Hakims are unusually abundant; sets are lavish and the costumes Miss Rogers wears are soothing to the eye. Jean Pierre Aumont looks like a good bet for enshrining himself in the ladies' affections, screening well and deporting himself with continental charm. "Heartbreak" [sic] should do well because of Miss Rogers' name and the production values inherent in the film. It will please generally. Showmen's Trade Review, April 27, 1946 |
"Picture frequently reaches for its laughs and spontaneity which situations demand is for most part absent. Miss Rogers tries hard, and so does rest of cast, but material simply isn't there for the gay farce this should be. Most memorable performances are delivered by Rathbone, as the professor, and Mikhail Rasumny, an inept pupil who befriends Miss Rogers." —Variety, May 1946
 Arlette admits to stealing an apple. |
 The professor asks Arlette to enact various expressions for the benefit of the rest of the pickpocket class. |
"The film is not long. It is still too long, however, for such a frail plot." —The New York Sun, May 1946
"Rathbone's scenes, although limited to the early part of the film, were the production's most amusing. The British actor contributed his usual interesting performance to the project." —Michael Druxman, Basil Rathbone: His Life and His Films
Heartbeat "Heartbeat" stars Ginger Rogers in a romantic comedy that rates as entertainment plus. Produced by Robert and Raymond Hakim in exemplary manner, the film should have no trouble at all insinuating itself in the affections of all and sundry. An extremely amusing variation on the Cinderella theme, the picture represents material that never fails to prove surefire to the great mass of filmgoers. Its story of a waif who finds love and happiness with a man straight out of her dreams is heady stuff for feminine tastes, although the picture is one that the men also will accept with alacrity. Filled with humor that is at times robust and at others gentle to a degree, "Heartbeat" is never permitted under the directorial hand of Sam Wood to falter from its high purpose of supplying audiences with the best possible diversion. Hans Wilhelm, Max Kolpe and Michel Duran, for their screenplay, and Morrie Ryskind, for his adaptation, deserve no small praise for a yarn that has some interesting and novel twists and offers any number of surprises. The four have given Wood material to work with that provides opportunity after opportunity for superior make-believe and allows the director to exercise to the hilt his great sense of what does and doesn't constitute entertainment that is in public demand. The scene is Paris. Ginger Rogers is a fugitive from a girls' reform school who lands in the school for pickpockets operated by Basil Rathbone. Rather than turn her over to the police when he catches her stealing a stickpin, Adolphe Menjou, an ambassador, employs her to steal from Jean Pierre Aumont, a diplomat, evidence that his wife (Mona Maris) is having an affair with the latter. what Miss Rogers does is keep the evidence, leading Menjou to believe that his suspicions about his wife are unfounded. A romance flowers between Miss Rogers and Aumont. The happy ending for Cinderella is not achieved until she has experienced no end of disappointments and heartaches. The beautifully mounted film has been acted with spirit by an able cast. Miss Rogers negotiates the journey from the bottom to the top of the ladder in a fashion that will delight her fans. Aumont is charming as the man of her heart. Menjou, Melville Cooper and Mikhail Rasumny, who is precious in a number of outstanding scenes, are among others whose work is to be commended. DIRECTION, Fine. PHOTOGRAPHY, Fine. —The Film Daily, May 1, 1946 |
"It could have been fun, for the idea is invitingly impudent and sly—it being that a romance should blossom between a lady pick-purse and a diplomat. And the early scenes, representing a Parisian pickpocket school presided over by a pompous Basil Rathbone, have a promising cheekiness and bounce. But as soon as one of the pupils, a fugitive from a girls' reform school, goes off to an embassy function and meets a swell there, the cards are down. Thereafter the substance of the picture is just a tedious and talky romance. It has neither wit nor novelty—nor even a vagrant dash of spice." —Bosley Crowther, The New York Times, May 11, 1946
"Basil Rathbone, who operates a school for pickpockets, is the picture's only humorous highlight." —Photoplay, June 1946
 Yves asks a question. |
 Teaching the pickpocket class. |
Theater owner comments (published in various 1946 issues of Motion Picture Herald):
"We died on this show, probably due to the intense heat wave which hit us during the showing. Comments were mixed and no one seemed enthusiastic about it. Ginger is very popular here." —Thomas di Lorenzo, New Paltz Theatre, New Paltz, NY
"This is a fair show which did average business. Ginger has made better pictures." —E. M. Frieburger, Paramount Theatre, Dewey, OK
"A feature that is a little different from the usual. However, I was disappointed in the turnout. It didn't have much appeal, for the attendance was low. I would have been better off to have left this one alone." —K. Walshaw, Broadview Theatre, Broadview, Saskatchewan, Canada
"Heartbeat proved a heartache and it wasn't fair to our Ginger. The poor story really sold us short on this one. We were all disappointed and there were plenty of walkouts." —Harland Rankin, Plaza Theatre, Tilbury, Ontario, Canada
See Page Two for more photos and reviews of Heartbeat. See Page Three for pictures of posters, lobby cards and promo photos.
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Heartbeat is available on DVD
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